EPA Finalizes Decision to Retain 2025 Fuel Economy Standards

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finalized its decision to retain fuel economy standards that will hike the fleet average for passenger cars and trucks from about 26 mpg today to 36 mpg in 2025.

The agency was required to conduct a midterm review of the second phase of the regulations, which will impose rapidly increasing fuel economy targets for 2022-2025. EPA had until April 2018 to complete its evaluation. But in November it decided to make its assessment sooner.

The agency’s legally binding decision, which was expected, confirms but doesn’t impose new standards. As a result, it will be difficult for the skeptical Trump administration to reverse the ruling, observers say.

Carmakers have complained that the accelerated pace of fuel economy gains beginning six years from now will be virtually impossible to achieve. They also note that the U.S. market has swung from relatively thrifty cars to less efficient trucks. Last year the ratio of truck-to-car sales climbed to a record 60:40, roughly the reverse forecast when the regulation was written.

But EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy insists that eight years of research, independent reviews and analyses indicate the original targets remain achievable. She says carmakers can meet the goals at reasonable cost by using current technologies and without relying on such alternatives as hybrid and all-electric powertrains.

The agency says it opted to retain the original standards to provide “regulatory certainty” in spite of a record of technology advances that “suggests the standards could be made more stringent.”